The most common form of electric hot water heating systems involves a storage tank in which water is heated to a predetermined temperature. The water in the storage tank is maintained at the predetermined temperature as water is drawn from the storage tank and replenished with cold inlet water. Electric hot water storage systems are generally considered to be energy inefficient as they operate on the principle of storing the water heated to a predetermined temperature greater than the temperature required for usage, even though the consumer may not require hot water until some future time. As thermal energy is lost from the hot water in the storage tank, further consumption of electrical energy is required to reheat that water to the predetermined temperature.
A more energy efficient means of heating water than storage tank systems involves the use of a tankless water heater system—also referred to as “on-demand” or “instant” water heater system—that heats water only when hot water is being used. Most prior art tankless water heater systems use resistance type electrical heating elements to heat the water. A major disadvantage of tankless water heater systems utilizing resistance type electric heating elements is that the elements themselves have substantial thermal mass and thermal resistance, substantially reducing the speed the water is heated, especially when the water flow is started from zero.
The alternative to using heating elements for heating the water is to pass an electrical current through the water by passing it between two electrodes between which an AC voltage exists, known as Direct Electrical Resistance (DER) heating. Unfortunately, existing electrode water heaters are highly complex, rendering them expensive to manufacture and difficult to implement in a compact fashion.
It is desirable to provide an electrode water heater/electrode steam generator that is simple and implementable in a compact fashion.
It is also desirable to provide an electrode water heater/electrode steam generator that provides hot water/steam at a substantially high speed and efficiency.
It is also desirable to provide an electrode water heater that provides boiling water at a substantially high speed and efficiency.